The decor and layout of the new store far exceeded Jiang Jiankang's imagination, and he instantly became full of fighting spirit. He left his son behind and dragged Mrs. Wang Xiulian to the nearby farmers' market to scout the situation.
For a store this big, choosing the right supply of ingredients was crucial.
Jiang Feng, who was used to being left behind by his parents, returned to the dorm with Wang Hao first.
"Feng, I just saw a dish called 'Clear Soup with Willow Leaf Swallow Vegetable' on the menu downstairs. What is that?" Wang Hao asked curiously.
"That's just one of my dad's show-off dishes; he can't actually make it," Jiang Feng said, and seeing Wang Hao looking puzzled, he explained, "That dish is supposed to use white bird's nest as the main ingredient. My dad only talks the talk, he's never actually made it; only my grandfather, who was once a chef in a state-owned restaurant, ever did."
Wang Hao suddenly realized, "No wonder your cooking skills are so good; it's a family legacy."
When they got to the supermarket next to the school, Jiang Feng suddenly stopped in his tracks.
"Do you want to try cucumber in 'straw raincoat'?"
He had dried chili and chili oil in his bag.
Wang Hao, known for his love of eating, would surely provide a lot of experience points if cooked for. If Jiang Feng waited until after Wang Hao had tried Mr. Jiang Jiankang's cooking tonight, he might not be so easy to impress as before.
Of course, Wang Hao knew what cucumber in 'straw raincoat' was. "Feng, you even know how to make that? Let's go, they have cucumbers in the supermarket. I'll post it on social media to make those guys next door jealous after you make it."
Jiang Feng's eyes lit up, "They're all at the school?"
"They all came early for the freshman welcoming. Every single one of those beasts is here. We've got to keep our door shut tight, Feng. Last time, they caught wind of the spare rib rice and didn't leave a single bite for me," Wang Hao said, chuckling.
"No worries, I'll cut a few more, and you go ask if they want some," Jiang Feng was welcoming to all comers. To him, these guys were nothing but pure experience points!
Since Jiang Feng had said so, Wang Hao took out his phone and asked everyone in the WeChat group. As expected, the boys who had returned to school early responded with great enthusiasm.
Jiang Feng bought ten cucumbers.
The cucumbers at the school supermarket were not very fresh; they looked like they had been forced to ripen. The quality wasn't good, so he didn't bother picking and just took about ten passable cucumbers, weighed them, and went to the checkout counter to pay.
Seeing that he bought ten cucumbers, the cashier lady gave him an extra few glances.
"Don't buy vegetables at the school. They're full of hormones." Perhaps because Jiang Feng was good-looking, the lady couldn't help but give a piece of advice, "Behind the wholesale market, there's a small vegetable market where many of them grow their own produce, no pesticides, really fresh."
"Thank you, Auntie," Jiang Feng sweetly thanked her, then took out his phone to relay the news to Mr. Jiang Jiankang.
Wang Hao waited for Jiang Feng at the entrance of the supermarket, and seeing him come out with a big bag of cucumbers, he was startled and asked, "Feng, I recall we don't have a kitchen knife in our dorm, do we?"
There was only a sharp fruit knife in the dorm; this was also why Jiang Feng was usually reluctant to cook in the dorm. Cutting meat with a fruit knife took forever and was a hassle.
"A fruit knife will do," Jiang Feng said.
Cucumber in 'straw raincoat' relied on knifework; the ingredients were secondary. Every family had its own taste, but it would generally not be too bad.
As for knifework.
Such basic knifework, Jiang Feng had been able to cut a complete cucumber in 'straw raincoat' since the fifth grade of elementary school.
The dorm was on the fifth floor, and by the time Jiang Feng, carrying a bag of seasonings and holding a bag of cucumbers, got to the fifth floor, he almost thought he had gone to the wrong building.
From the stairs and around to room 501, a crowd had gathered, ranging in height and size. At a quick glance, there were easily a dozen or more.
Those who didn't know might think it was a group ready to ambush and start a brawl.
"Damn, I just mentioned it, and you all actually came," Wang Hao couldn't help but curse at the sight.
There were Jiang Feng's classmates, colleagues from his department, and regulars from Wang Hao's small store who often hung around room 501.
"We're here to support the grand opening of Feng's family's new store!" Li Jian from the same class joked.
"Our store opens the day after tomorrow, make sure you all come and show support," Jiang Feng said with a smile, as Wang Hao opened the door to the dorm.
The fruit knife was on Jiang Feng's desk. He went to the balcony to wash the cucumbers and the fruit knife, while Wang Hao quickly started to wipe the table clean. The plastic cutting board had been broken since last semester and hadn't been replaced, so they had to cut the cucumbers on the table.
After washing the cucumbers, Jiang Feng picked up the knife and deftly made diagonal and straight cuts, his skilled movements painting the picture of not just wielding a fruit knife but one of the incredible blades from the 'Little Chef' shows.
Those standing at the door watching couldn't help but stare in awe.
Jiang Feng's culinary skills were impressive, but that was relative to the students at UAL University.
In Alan City, if you stepped into a slightly larger restaurant, you could easily find a chef with better skills than Jiang Feng.
These were all people who had a good relationship with Jiang Feng; they had seen Wang Hao's social media posts and thought that Feng's family was so indebted from opening the new store that they were struggling. They came to support him.
They had agreed among themselves to each eat a few bites of cucumber, and then excuse it as payment for the dish, each person contributing five or ten bucks so that Jiang Feng wouldn't have financial difficulty at the start of the school year. The cucumber in 'straw raincoat' really wasn't the point; showing support was.
But now, the people at the door couldn't help but fixate on the fruit knife in Jiang Feng's hand.
Swish, swish, swish, swish.
The movements were as quick as something out of a TV drama.
Because 501 often had hot pot in the winter, they had a complete set of dipping sauce dishes. Jiang Feng took out two plates and arranged the sliced cucumbers into a circle, adding salt, sesame oil, sugar, then took out vinegar personally brewed by Sir, sun-dried chili peppers, and homemade chili oil from his bag.
Sir had learned vinegar brewing from a Shanxi master in his early years, and in his view, most vinegars sold on the market nowadays were soulless.
As soon as the jars containing chili oil and vinegar were opened, the fragrance was released.
"Do you guys prefer sour or spicy?" Jiang Feng asked the few at the door first.
"Spicy, spicy!"
"Sour, sour is good!"
"Either is fine, either is fine."
Four people gave three different answers, at this point they couldn't remember they were here to show support, their eyes were fixated on the two plates of cucumbers.
Jiang Feng added a bit more dried chili to one plate, and kept the other at a normal ratio.
There seemed to be a lot with ten cucumbers, but divided among over a dozen people, there wasn't much left.
Wang Hao, having the advantage of proximity, tried to monopolize one cucumber but was strictly denounced by everyone, and three quarters of it was taken away.
Sir's chili oil packed a punch, and several students who couldn't handle spicy food almost cried from the heat but still bravely fought in the front lines for food.
The entrance of apartment 501 was filled with the scent of sour and spicy.
Some had intended to casually compliment the taste of the cucumbers, but anyone with that idea only found several plates with dried chili floating in vinegar.
A student who came down from the sixth floor to take out the trash saw so many people around on the fifth floor and the delicious sour and spicy aroma in the air, and curiously asked, "What are you all eating here?"
"Nothing, nothing, we're just helping to clean up spilled vinegar," everyone responded in unison, fearing another mouth to feed would be too much to handle.
The ten plates of cucumber slices were devoured by the ravenous crowd in no time.
Meanwhile, Jiang Feng heard "Ding, gained 111 experience points."
"Ding, gained 167 experience points."
"Ding, gained 109 experience points."
His mood was simply delightful.
After the food was gone, everyone started to enthusiastically fight over who would wash the plates.
"Oh no!" a junior from Jiang Feng's department suddenly slapped his thigh in an epiphany, "Feng, I almost forgot to pay for the cucumber salad. I'll just transfer the money to Mr. Hao by scanning his QR code on his bedside; Mr. Hao, make sure you pass it on to Feng!"
"Oh no, how could I forget!"
"Ah, look at my memory, Hao, I'm also transferring the money to you."
Everyone seemed to have a moment of realization, but their acting was so poor that Jiang Feng felt embarrassed to expose them.
What was even more telling was that everyone left in a hurry after paying, which was too deliberate.
Wang Hao was somewhat baffled by the string of notifications for receiving money on his phone.
"Since when did they start paying for food they mooched?"
Jiang Feng chuckled and began to tidy up the seasonings. "Isn't it because you've been posting fake advertisements on your social media every day? They probably think I'm so poor I can't afford to eat."
Wang Hao: …
"So what should we do with this money?"
"Keep it for now; we'll give them discounts when they come to eat at my family's restaurant," Jiang Feng said.
After tidying up a bit, Jiang Feng carefully picked out the seasonings and packed them in a bag to take to his shop that evening.
After reminiscing about the cucumber salad they'd just eaten, Wang Hao asked, "Feng, how does your dad's cooking compare to that cucumber salad?"
After thinking for a moment, Jiang Feng replied seriously, "The cucumber salad was delicious because it was made with vinegar and chili oil brewed by my grandpa; it's roughly the standard of my dad's everyday cooking."
"My dad is surely preparing his signature dishes tonight. His cooking skills are definitely higher than that cucumber salad."
"Gulp."
Wang Hao couldn't help but swallow saliva.